S. H. M. (Samuel Hawkins Marshall) Byers

Born in Pennsylvania in 1838 and raised in Iowa, he studied law and was admitted to the bar just as the Civil War began. He enlisted in the 5th Iowa Infantry, was captured by Confederate forces, and spent many months as a prisoner of war before eventually regaining his freedom. Those experiences shaped much of the writing that made him known.

His best-known work was the poem "Sherman's March to the Sea," written during the war and later linked closely with General Sherman's campaign. After the war, he continued to build a public career as an author and served the United States in diplomatic posts in Switzerland. He also wrote verses about Iowa, including "The Song of Iowa," which was later adopted as the state's official song.

He lived a long life that stretched from 1838 to 1933, leaving behind a body of work that mixed memory, patriotism, and firsthand history. For listeners interested in Civil War-era writing, his books and poems offer both personal witness and a strong sense of the world he lived through.